M.P. Gupta, a senior lawyer of the Patna High Court, quoted a court report as saying that 903 cases of kidnappings took place in Bihar from Jan 1 to March 31. January accounted for 333 abductions, February for 361 and March for 209.

By IANS, [RxPG] Patna, April 17 - Even as Bihar staged protests against the kidnappings of schoolchildren, a schoolteacher was abducted at gunpoint in the state, police officials said Tuesday.

Basant Kumar Paswan, 25, a teacher in a government school in Begusarai district, 125 km from here, was abducted Monday at gunpoint by unidentified men, said police.

The armed abductors also injured another schoolteacher, Jai Kumar Gupta, when he tried to rescue Paswan.

The abduction took place as hundreds of schoolchildren and teachers here wore black badges Monday to protest 'police failure' in tracing six-year-old Ankit, the son of a businessman who was kidnapped six days ago. The Bihar Public School and Children Welfare Association has started a three-phased agitation to put pressure on the administration to recover the kidnapped boy.

Crime continues to spiral in the state.

Police have also failed to trace a youth abducted in Begusarai district Wednesday. The body of an abducted farmer, Chandeshwar Rai, was found near Patna after he went missing April 3.

Last week, police recovered the body of an abducted 10-year-old student in Munger district, an incident that triggered violent street protests.

More than 900 people have been abducted across the state in the first three months of 2007, according to a report of the Patna High Court. According to officials, over 2,000 people were kidnapped in 2006 alone.

M.P. Gupta, a senior lawyer of the Patna High Court, quoted a court report as saying that 903 cases of kidnappings took place in Bihar from Jan 1 to March 31. January accounted for 333 abductions, February for 361 and March for 209.

Earlier this year, the Patna High Court directed the state government to trace the 144 children and 581 women who are missing since 2001.